NL West

Now Commenting On:

Melvin will pitch Cook on consecutive days

Melvin will pitch Cook on consecutive days

Email

Print

Ryan Cook

By
/
|

OAKLAND -- A's closer Ryan Cook entered Saturday having allowed 11 runs in 8 1/3 innings in 10 appearances with no rest, including three in a blown save on Friday, compared to just one run spanning 38 innings in 36 outings with at least one day of rest.

"There's nothing you can do about that," manager Bob Melvin said.

So Cook will continue to see work in the ninth, no matter if he did so the prior day.

"If you're a closer, you're going to come in [during] games that you're ahead -- and if I have to use him again today, I'm gonna use him again today," Melvin said on Saturday morning. "You can't just pick your spots and say, as a closer, you're going to pitch every other day. You just can't do that."

Melvin did use Cook on Saturday, marking just the second time he has pitched three consecutive days this season. The results were familiar, with the righty surrendering a game-tying home run to David Cooper in the top of the ninth inning in an eventual 3-1 A's loss in 11 innings. It marked his fourth blown save in his last six outings.

On Friday, Cook recorded two quick outs in the ninth, with Oakland leading, 4-1, before surrendering back-to-back base hits to Cooper and Rajai Davis -- on 0-1 and 0-2 counts, respectively. That brought up Jeff Mathis, who, like his teammates, fought off a pitchers' count at 0-2 to line a 3-2 fastball over the center-field wall to tie the game.

"He pitched really well the last time and then he comes and gets two outs last night and has got some 0-2 counts," Melvin said. "It's a matter of putting them away. He's one pitch away on every single one of those batters. I thought the stuff was good. He just has to continue to trust in his stuff late in the count."